During a discussion on the subject The Current State of the Armenian-Turkish Relations organized by the Analytical Center on Globalization and Regional Cooperation, Levon Barseghyan, the head of the journalists’ club Asparez, recalled that as early as in 2007, they had applied to the so-called donor organizations to develop the Armenian-Turkish relations at the societal level. Only the US Embassy responded.
Before the Armenian and Turkish national teams were offered an opportunity to play each other, as a result of which the “football diplomacy” arose, the Asparez club had tried many times to organize football matches between journalists of Kars Province and Gyumri. Matches have never been held, since, according to Barseghyan, Ankara hasn’t given consent. Journalists of Gyumri, however, managed to play football in Kars. When they were there,
they just offered guys in the street to play football. Then, it turned out that those guys were players of some factory’s football club. The match ended 15-13 to the Turks.
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After telling this story, Levon Barseghyan joked, “Perhaps, it is where the ‘football diplomacy’ stemmed from and developed.”
Watch the video to find out what are the prospects of the Armenian-Turkish relations, in Levon Barseghyan’s opinion.
Nelly GRIGORYAN
